5.  The applicant was born in 1927 and lives in Benevento.
6.  In December 1993 the municipality of Benevento declared itself insolvent (stato di dissesto) in accordance with legislative decree no. 66 of 1989 (subsequently amended by Law no. 68 of 19 March 1993, then by legislative decrees no. 77 of 25 February 1995 and no. 267 of 18 August 2000). On 19 January 1994, the city’s financial management was entrusted to an extraordinary liquidation committee (organo straordinario di liquidazione) (the “OSL”), which had the task of drawing up a list of claims that could be declared admissible for the purposes of the debt repayment procedure.
7.  Article 248 § 2 of legislative decree no. 267 of 18 August 2000 (the law on insolvent local authorities – enti locali dissestati) provided that from the time of the declaration of insolvency (dissesto) until the approval of the statement of accounts (rendiconto), no enforcement procedure could be initiated or pursued concerning the claims registered on the list drawn up by the OSL. Under paragraph 4 of that provision, during the period in question the insolvent local authority could not be liable for statutory interest on those debts or any compensation to offset inflation.
8.  According to the domestic case-law (see decision no. 5778 of the Consiglio di Stato dated 30 October 2001), legislative decree no. 267 of 2000 did not apply to claims against a local authority that had been considered certain and payable by a judicial decision following the declaration of insolvency, regardless of the date on which the claim arose. It was thus possible to initiate enforcement proceedings in respect of such claims.
9.  On 13 June 2004 Law no. 140 of 28 May 2004 entered into force. Section 5(2) of that Law provided that the rules governing insolvent local authorities also applied to claims that had arisen before 31 December of the year preceding that in which the accounts were rebalanced (bilancio riequilibrato), even where such claims had been established by a judicial decision after that date. The Consiglio di Stato applied that provision in its decisions no. 3715 of 30 July 2004 and no. 6438 of 21 November 2005.
10.  On 28 October 1992 the applicant had filed a claim for damages against the municipal authority of Benevento, seeking the payment of unpaid rent and compensation for damage caused to his property.
11.  In a judgment of 18 November 2003, of which the text was deposited in the court’s registry on 10 February 2004, the Benevento District Court had allowed the applicant’s claim and had ordered the municipal authority to pay him 17,604.46 euros (EUR) in damages, plus statutory interest and a sum to offset inflation. That judgment, which was served on the municipality on 9 April 2004, became final on 9 May 2004.
12.  In its resolution no. 4088 of 21 June 2005, the OSL, following a simplified procedure adopted from 1998 onwards, acknowledged the existence of a debt owed by the municipal authority to the applicant for the sum of EUR 42,028.58.
13.  On 7 February 2006 the OSL made a proposal to the applicant for a friendly settlement of the matter, offering him 80% of the sum that he claimed. The applicant declined the offer.